It was the second night Jim and the others spent in the brig and Jim had still not slept. He didn't know the exact time of night, but he knew it must be late. Jasmine was curled up next to the wall that separated their cells, with her hand between the bars, resting on Jim's arm. He wasn't sure if the gesture was meant to comfort Jim or make herself feel safer. She had been asleep for a little while now and even though Jim had become uncomfortable in this position, he didn't move away from her, just in case it was more for her comfort than his.

Jim has had nothing but time to think since being locked up. He thought about John lying in Meg's office, with a bullet wound in his back from the one person who always had his back- even when Jim had betrayed him. Jim remembered the night Meg found out about him and Kida and how she had been ready to kill Jim just for breaking John's heart. Jim absolutely could not wrap his head around the fact that she tried to kill John and would have maybe even tried again if she didn't need to use him against Sinbad.

Jim turned his hand over looked down at the cut healing on his palm.

"I swear to every god known to man and beast that I will survive this war and spend the rest of my life with Jim Hawkins."

Jim squeezed his hand into a fist and didn't fight the tears that burned his eyes.

The night they married, Jim swore he'd kill an army to spend the rest of his life with John; but, what if he had to kill Meg? Jim didn't know if he could do that. He didn't know if it would come to that. But, the fact that it was a possibility was driving Jim mad. She had been his friend and helped him since his first day on this ship. He had heard grief could change people, but Meg seemed to become a completely different person in the blink of an eye.

Or, rather, in the flash of a knife.

Jim never liked or trusted Sinbad, but he was glad Sinbad was here now. There was not a single doubt in his mind that Sinbad would do everything humanly possible to keep his promise. Jim was not under any delusion that he could save John by himself, so he felt better having Sinbad on his side. Though, it killed Jim that he was incapable of saving or protecting John on his own.

But, Sinbad had save John's life last night. Sinbad told them all about how he had been forced to perform the emergency surgery on John. Jim had a newfound respect for Sinbad and he didn't think he'd ever be able to thank him or repay him properly for what he did.

Jasmine stirred and let out a small noise in her sleep. Her hand flinched, slightly tightening around his arm. Jim softly ran a finger over the back of her hand. He hated that she was mixed up in all of this.

Jim couldn't help being somewhat angry with Aladdin. He knew Aladdin never intended for any of this to happen and he didn't want anyone to get hurt. But, while he didn't have much of a friendship to speak of with Aladdin, Jasmine had been there for him while John had been Sinbad's prisoner. Jasmine has gone through a lot lately: being kidnapped from her home, finding out her father valued money over her, almost being raped, thinking Aladdin had been killed, being locked up in the brig twice, being forced and tricked into betraying Aladdin, losing her voice so she can't fight back, and now preparing to fight on the wrong side of a war because she thinks she has no other options.

Gaston was a dangerous man who thought only of himself; there was no telling what would happen to Jasmine if she goes to Corona with Aladdin. And exactly how strong was Aladdin's loyalty to Gaston? If Gaston wanted to finish what he tried to do in Jasmine's cell that night, would Aladdin stop him?

Jim didn't want to see anything happen to Jasmine. Whatever happened to Aladdin would be a consequence of his own decision and, to be honest, Jim couldn't bring himself to care what happened to him. If it wasn't for him, none of them would be in this situation and John wouldn't have gotten shot.

Fresh hot tears brimmed Jim's eyes. How did everything fall apart around him so quickly? One minute Gaston was locked up and all of The Damned's enemies were no longer threats; the next Hercules was dead, Meg was on a rampage, and John had a bullet in his back.

He needed John to make it. If he lost John now, when everything was finally good between them, Jim didn't think he could handle it. The pain alone would kill him. Jim could hardly stand the pain he was in now and John was still alive. Though he knew it was impossible, Jim was sure the pain of losing John like this would cause his heart to explode. He couldn't imagine a more painful death.

Jasmine whimpered in her sleep. She must be having a nightmare, Jim realized. He reached out and gently shook her arm. Jasmine jolted awake with a gasp. Her breaths coming out in short bursts.

"You're all right," Jim whispered.

Jasmine looked over at him. It took a moment for recollection to cross her face. "Thank God it was only a nightmare," she whispered.

Jim smiled at her. "Looks like you got your voice back."

Jasmine sighed in relief. "Finally. John's lucky he's hurt or I'd really give him a piece of my mind."

"I think Aladdin deserves that more than John."

Jasmine shook her head and sat up. She wrapped her arms around her knees. "This is all only happening because Eric overheard me telling John everything- which wouldn't have happened if John hadn't given me that serum. I'm not saying Aladdin is innocent in all of this, but not all of the blame is his."

Jim sat up, too. He couldn't argue with that. While he understood why John did what he did, it had still been wrong. "You're right."

Jasmine nodded. "And now the four of us are caught in the middle." She motioned between their cells and Sinbad's and Flynn's. "Life sure would be a lot easier if we hadn't fallen for pirates, huh?" She gave Jim a half- hearted smile.

Jim nodded. "Probably. But, I'd rather be here right now than to have lived my whole life without that pirate."

Jasmine reached back through the bars and gave Jim's hand a squeeze. "Yeah. Me, too."